Group: Forced Access Violates 1st Amendment
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 6/13/2002 6:13:00 AM
Requiring cable operators to carry unaffiliated Internet-service providers would impose a content-based burden and violate the First Amendment, according to the industry-backed Media Institute.
The Media Institute -- a nonprofit First Amendment watchdog based in Washington, D.C. -- came to the defense of the cable industry on the forced-access issue in comments filed Wednesday with the Federal Communications Commission, which is considering a multiple-ISP-carriage mandate.
The organization -- which is partly funded by the cable and broadcasting industries -- said cable-operator selection of an ISP is an exercise of editorial discretion, and government interference with that selection would face the strictest examination from the judiciary.
'Given the content-based nature of the cable operator/ISP relationship, any regulation mandating multiple-ISP access would be subject to strict scrutiny,' said the Media Institute, which reminded the FCC that a federal judge in Miami struck down a Broward Country forced-access ordinance as a First Amendment violation.
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